Horse fly bites whilst riding?

pollinate? if those evil little beast is the only means of their survival, i hope that plant is meant to make antihistamines otherwise that plant or flower will be extinct very soon by me and other angry riders ..i hope horses dont eat those or would be circle of life thingy

They really are evil buggers, wasps at least perform a useful function in predating on lots of harmful pests, to feed to their young, and really only sting in defence. Horseflies bite to feed, and they saw through the skin to get the blood!
They wear cool shades, though; if only Oakley could do similar patterns...

They were horrendous over in Torridon last weekend, I've never known them so bad. The worst bits were the hike-a-bike where I couldn't swat them. They'd just bite and fly off leaving a trickle of blood. Thankfully I'm another who doesn't seem to be suffering the usual golf ball sized lumps after they've bitten this year. Horrible little bastards

Horseflies are little packets of protein-filled blood (albeit yours/mine) that will feed the local birds. Don't hate them, love them for helping you donate your life-juice for the good of the eco-system.

'Orrible! The kids and I were plagued by them on the way up and down from Goatfell on Isle of Arran last week.

Have been bitten by them out on the bike before and ended up on strong antibiotics because of cellulitis. Always seems to happen if bitten in shin area for some reason. If the red, blotchy bit around the bite starts to spread significantly, especially towards your core, go see a doc because it could mean infection. Paranoid about them now because of past experiences and took antibiotics with me on holiday this year just in case. :-/

Three courses of antibiotics in the last few years because of these little bastards. Apparently they land on clothing then crawl in or onto skin so you can't feel them. They then try to excise a piece of skin to take away and feast on. In doing so, they chew loads of crap from your skin and their mandible into you, hence the much worse infection than a mozzie bite. Muddy mtb legs make this worse, and you have less chance of feeling them if your legs are caked in mud too.

Get to the quack for some antibiotics quick.

They are one of the few species I would happily see go extinct.

On a slightly different tack, apparently if you find a mozzie on a loose part of your skin, you can pinch the skin up and trap the little buggers mouthparts, but they cannot stop the flow of blood, so they swell up ans eventually burst! A suitably revolting end.

So, erm, not that struck with the elephant man look. Off to get some advice...

lol something similar happened to me last year, flew into a wasp which got caught behind the bridge of my glasses... unsurprisingly it stung me a couple of times, my face was so swollen I was unrecognisable - had to take the first day off work as I couldn't see enough to ride in.

Ouch! Hope you're better soon. I sometimes react really badly to horseflies (legs swollen to nearly double width once) but this year only days of horrid itching. Don't understand why the difference but they put the fear into me if I see them!

Riding in Wales I was just declaring myself pooped at the top of a climb. The words were scarcely out of mouth when I saw the unmistakeable swooping flight round my legs and shot off without drawing breath… 'ride like you're pursued by horseflies' could be my next race strategy.

One of the little sods got me in Edale the other week. Struggling speeding up a hill and suddenly felt a little chomp under my armpit. Properly hurt (in the way that mozzie bites don't) but no real ill effects other than a bit sore. Fortunately I don't seem to attract them too much. That said midges are another story entirely, they just lurve a bit of me. Enjoyed a congratulatory pint or two in Hebden the other week after a particularly testing loop. Got absolutely massacred. Had counted 50 bites on one leg before I gave up and got back to scratching..